France Bans Super Skinny Models From Catwalks – 4 April 2015

France’s National Assembly voted on Friday, in the latest measures to battle anorexia, to ban models that are considered dangerously thin and will impose heavy fines and prison sentences for agents who employ them.

Models in France will now have to present a medical certificate showing they have a BMI (Body Mass Index) of at least 18, about 55 kg for a height of 1.75 meters before they get hired.

But France is on the generous end of what is interpreted as thin. The WHO (World Health Organization) says that a BMI below 18 is malnutrition, below 17 is severe malnutrition and below 16 is starvation.

The law calls for prison sentences of up to six months and large fines of up to €75,000 ($82,000) for any agent that flouts it.